Namida says later that it would be too complicated to check if all remaining lemmings are really unsaveable. Doesn't this kill the "autonuke" idea, by removing the only use case where it would have an advantage over either exiting or continuing? Once time is up, nuking remaining lemmings has no gameplay purpose and is just a colourful way of transferring the player to the post-level screen
Agreed. I'm not overly enthused about the autonuke idea myself, tbh. I just thought it could be one way to solve the problem of "I have solved the level, but it is still playing because the engine carries on after time has run out". There may well be other, better, more preferable solutions (e.g. just simply exiting the level immediately upon time running out would be sufficient).
I can see the case for treating them together, so long as there is a configurable setting for whether to continue or exit. Continuing would be the default and the friendliest option for casual play, but you definitely want exiting when no lemmings remain for speedruns.
+1 for this.
I think new players would be confused if the game just keeps going when no lemmings are left, expecting something to happen; they might not even know how to rewind or move on if they haven't looked at the hotkey setup yet.
And +1 for this as well. NeoLemmix is a complex enough engine that most players realise it's capable of advanced gameplay quite quickly, but it's still worth taking into account players who may be unaware of its capabilities. This is why the engine should very clearly display that something has happened
if the default behaviour is to continue playing (which is currently is in the case of "time's up".)
If it is important to look at the different cases separately, then here's my take on it:
No lemmings remain:
If the level is solved, the game should exit. Otherwise, a level like
Tailor-made For Blockers would theoretically never end, even after nuking.
If it isn't solved, then play should continue with a clear red "0" next to the lem count. This gives the player an opportunity to rewind back into the level and try again without having to completely restart.
Time has run out:
Again, if the level is solved, the game should exit IMHO. If I'm speedrunning (or even just playing normally), then I want the level to end if it's solved
and time has run out. Otherwise you end up stuck with the purple timer counting up for no reason. This is what sparked the idea for a way to automatically end the level in this case.
However, I also see Proxima's point about wanting to play for more saves, and it is an important one.
This is where user config comes in; if it becomes an option (A: Always exit when level is solved
and time has run out, or B: Always continue playing when time has run out), particularly one that's toggleable from within gameplay, then players can switch this behaviour on and off depending on what type of situation they're playing in (A: for casual/speedrunning, B: for challenges/talismans/etc).
If the level isn't solved, then current behaviour is ideal. All I'd add is the clock graphic over the exit, to make it extra clear that lems can no longer exit even though play is continuing. Maybe lems should walk past the exit as well, rather than getting stuck mid-exit-animation; this would have the added bonus of leaving them in play.